News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1887-11-03

of afternoon work in, the Office were
brief. He was studiously polite to the
new assistant. Indeed, being devotee
of ''the sex" he made some advances to.
ward mild Irritation. But as these were
firmly discountenanced-J mind be
ing strictly upon business intent-ht
soon withdrew into the region of polite
commonplace.
There was to be woman's convention
at Helmford about this time, and it nat.
urally occurred to the chief how appro
pirate it would be for the B1lgle to repre-
sent itself by a woman. He suggested
this idea to Julia, who received it will
delight On the day of the convention
she departed in high spirits, duly fur
nished with notebook, railway pass and
| honorable body of reporters.
1t was half-paSt nine in the evening
when she burst into the office, radiant
with enthusiasm.
"Oh! have had such splendid time, >
she calculated, to the great admiration
of the group of frequenters collected in
the sanctum-for these worthless had dis
covered that the lady editor favored the
evenings with her absence.
81 wouldn't have missed it for the
world. There was lady reporter from
the Tribune: and l got introduced to
Miss Anthony, and Mrs. Stanton, and
Kate Fielding, and lot of others. ]
never had such treat in my life"
"Well, the report, is it ready?" asked
the chief, blandly extending his hand for
the manuscript.
"Why, no! | haven't written a word
1 was too busy and excited"
Haven't you the notes of the meet.
ing?"
sob! dear, no. 1 couldn't do it. ]
was completely carried away"
"Bob," shouted the chief through the
slide to the night editor, 'tyou'll have to
clip report of that convention from the
Helmford evening papers.
Nothing more required of you TO-
night then, Miss Julia, " he added.
''Oh! thank you; but, Ireally couldn't,
you know. l did have a good time,
though. I'll tell you about it to-mor
row."
every we'll od-night"
The radiant vision disappeared; the
sitters resumed their pipes; and the snap
of the editorial shears alone broke the
silence, although smiles of exceeding
broadness Illuminated every face IN the
sanctum.
As reporter Julia was of no avail !;
that was evident to the chief. He was
furtively observing her the next after
noon, when he noticed that she seemed
to have drifted away into oblivion of her
work. She held her pencil loosely in her
fingers, tapping it on the table, sliding
her digits down and repeating the pro-
cess at the other end. The mucilage
brush dipped in the bottle, but was ar
rested midway in the air The young
woman's head bent over in musing at
titude. A sudden litter escaped her lips.
This recalled her to herself for an in
slant, but she soon relapsed into reverie
Smiles chased each other over her half
averted face; now and then a hysteric
giggle was smothered, and once she
wiped away tear.
Evidently, thought the chief, that
young woman has something on her mind
which does not concern the readers of
the BugLe. In fact, her work began to
show signs of haste and inattention. One
afternoon the chief noticed that she laid
the exchanges aside, and fell to with
great animation upon her stock of blank
paper.
"Ah! she is trying an editorial, map
be; that is hopeful" he murmured to
himself. Julia had, at his request, es-
sayed sundry editorial paragraphs, but as
rule, they were too visionary and emo.
tional for the columns. Perhaps now she
had an inspiration that would lead to
something better
The manuscript grew rapidly beneath
her busy pen. At length it was com
plete. She half turned around and q
smile of content was'visible all over her
face. The chief was already preparing
to stretch out his hand for the anticip1>
ted editorial when Julia suddenly ex.
tracted an envelope from little drawer
of her table, thrust the manuscript there
in and sealed it in haste. ''Excuse me
few moments" she said, rising, 81 have
an important letter to mail, " and she
vanished from the sanctum The chief
gave despairing pull at his moustache.
The month of trial was now drawing
to close. Increased demands upon the
BugLe'S columns were exacting harder
work from the staff. 1t was evident that
Julia could not perform the duties ex-
pected of an assistant in her position; an
additional member of the force was hardly
needed and could not be afforded. Tho
chief pulled his moustache refectively.
He liked Julia; it was pleasant to see
her trim figure and attractive face in
the sanctum; he shrank from the con-
clusion that his experiment was afailure.
Yet, after all, Julia must go. He WOULD
give her notice in the morning. It was
too bad; all the office prophets would
have the laugh on him, but yet
"Aliss julia" he said the next fore
noon, "your month is nearly up, and l
must give you notice that we need man
in your place. You really cannot do all
that is requied."
Excuse me, Mr. Russell, " the young
lady interrupted, 81 am glad you have
spoken, but you have only anticipated
me. know that cannot do what you
require, and am only putting extra work
on the others. 1 had made up my mind
to leave the office; think have learned
all can. l am quite satisfied, only sorry
if | have made you any trouble"
So it was amicably settled, and the
chief emitted sigh of relief as he sat
down to write letter to one of the cor
respondents of the Bugle, whose work
seemed promising The Local made the
sanctum fairly rattle with jigs on his
long-suffering banjo the day after Julia's
departure. The night editor contentedly
resumed his seat in the inner office The
tidings were whispered about, and
speedily the familiars began to burst in
with their hurricanes of
gossip.
Three months later the chief opened a
journal from a neighboring State, and 10
there was a red line drawn around the
notices. "in Blacktown, No
vember blank, by Rev Blank Blank, Mr.
George Blank and Miss Julia Finch of
Ayrestown, was what he read
$50 that accounts for the supposed
editorial, and the important letter.
Hum, hum! and the filters and the
bushes, the tears and the reverie." So
thought the chief, as he communicated
the news to his assistants.
He was mistaken. Six months more
rolled away. A group of heads were
bent together over the editorial table.
The individual and collective eyes of the
Bugle staff were fixed upon an open
volume, just received by post, with the
compliments of the author"
"Three Progressive Girls, by Julia
Finch" was the title 1t was sprightly
novel from fresh and enthusiastic pen.